This week Daphne Koller, Stanford University professor and co-founder of massive open online course (MOOC) platform Coursera, presented a talk at Columbia on how the advent of MOOcs is transforming higher education.

Dozens of top universities now offer MOOCs that span a range of topics including computer science, business, medicine, science, humanities, social sciences, and more. Launched in April 2012, Coursera now has over 3 million students, ranging from 10 to 90 years old, of whom 40% are in the developing world. In the talk, Koller reported on this far-reaching experiment in education, including some examples and preliminary analytics. She also discussed how this model can support an improved learning experience for on-campus students, via blended learning, and provide unprecedented access to education to millions of students around the world.

As part of her visit to campus, Koller also met with the University Senate Online Task Force, the Provost's Faculty Advisory Committee on Online Learning, and the CUMC Education Resource Council.